During the global testpunch for the Nintendo Switch exclusive, ARMS, there were a few things to glean from beta, especially in regards to technique, tactics and gameplay styles that will help you secure certain victory.

First and foremost: know your opponent.

It doesn’t hurt to spend a few seconds watching your opponent’s movements and behaviors before engaging them. You have 99 seconds, so there’s no absolute need to rush your attacks if you’re unfamiliar who you’re going up against.

There’s nothing wrong with even losing a match or two just to study an opponent and their habits, especially if you’re in a lobby and you’re going to be playing against them on multiple occasions. It’s better to understand their playing habits the first time around then spending lots of time later trying to adapt to their style.

Dealing With Punch-Spammers

If you’re going against someone who likes to quickly spam their attacks repeatedly, a good counter for that is relying on jumping grab moves. Most times when opponents like to just throw everything and the kitchen sink at you, they sometimes tend to forget to block or dodge. Anyone who relies solely on spamming their attacks usually leaves themselves open for air-grabs, which can be pulled off using both left and right punch attacks together. Take advantage of that.

Counter-Attacks Are Key

Opponents who keep peppering you with well-timed shots can be extremely annoying. It seems like every time you go to hit them they hit you instead. Why do you keep missing? Why do they keep hitting you in the face? Well, one easy fix for this situation is to focus on counter-punching. It’s a lot easier than it seems.

Instead of rushing in to attack an opponent, rely on dodging left and right when they go to attack, and keep yourself at about an out-stretched arm’s length away. Timing and patience is key when it comes to counter-attacks. You can try block-countering, which requires dodging using the ‘L’ bumper after successfully blocking an attack, but a more sure-fire method is to wait for your opponent to throw a punch, dodge left or right and throw a counter-punch in doing so. Be sure to curve your punch in the opposite direction you’re dashing. So if you dodge to your right, aim your punch to the left so it hooks and hits your opponent square in the face while you move out of the way.

Counter-punching is a great way to whittle down an opponent’s life and creating frustration, especially if they were previously winning.

Dealing With Grab Spammers

Grab spammers can be really annoying because it seems like all they do is constantly try to feel you up. Well, the easy route around that is to throw a single punch at their incoming grab, it’ll disrupt their attack and cause their arms to flail. If you time it right you can punch their grab attack out of the air and counter punch before their arms fully retract.

Stopping grabs can be dangerous and difficult, though, especially where lag is concerned. The safer bet is to to jump or dash out of the way and throw a counter-grab. Counter-grabs are effective because sometimes throwing a counter punch will result in the punch hitting their arm and falling off its intended target. Counter-grabs can be slightly more effective since you can stretch your arms width wise and so long as the green chain penetrates their body, you can execute a successful grab.

V-Ball Ready

This can be an extremely annoying mode to deal with due to the fact that any amount of lag makes it extremely frustrating to play. However, if you can get the jump on your opponents first, the lag will be in your favor. One of the best tactics is to dash-charge your arms and then immediately jump and attack the ball once it spawns over the net. This will spin the ball downward and at a very quick velocity, allowing you to score a quick point right off the bat.

The best arms to use for the volleyball matches are the chakram-style arms, they give you the best range and chance for hitting the ball hard enough to keep it in the air. The auto-targeting is also a lot more accurate on the boomerang/chakram arms than the standard fists. Another tactic to keep in mind is to only use one arm to attack the ball on returns, this way if you miss the first time you can use your second arm as a backup.

Winning Threeways

The best advice for winning the threeway triple-threat matches is quite simple:

Wining Tag-Team Battles

There’s no way to win these unless you’re teaming with a buddy who is playing with you locally while you play online. Tag-team battles require some modicum of communication or good spatial awareness because you can hit your teammates, and this creates a ridiculous situation where you’re spending most of your time trying to stay out of each others’ way, alternatively you can easily screw up your own attacks and your teammate attacks by bopping them from behind.

Essentially if you’re not familiar with your teammate and you’ve been randomly matched up, just stay out of their way and throw fists from a distance. If you can communicate with your partner locally, please do so to ensure you stay out of each others’ way.